As Mayor Emanuel asks the City Council to give him a one-time exemption to circumvent city law and make interim Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson the permanent pick, some aldermen are working to restructure the organizations that oversee the police department with an eye toward more transparency.

Today, the Council’s Public Safety Committee will be asked to consider an ordinance from Mayor Rahm Emanuel that would give him a one-time exemption to bypass the Police Board and appoint Johnson to officially succeed former Police Supt. Garry McCarthy, who was ousted from his seat following the public outcry of the department’s handling of the police shooting of Laquan McDonald. After considering and voting on that measure, aldermen will then be asked to confirm interim Police Supt. Johnson to the post. Johnson is expected to be on hand to answer questions from committee members.

This comes just a day before the monthly City Council meeting, where two South Side aldermen, Leslie Hairston (5) and Jason Ervin (28) are expected to introduce two separate proposals to reform how cases of police misconduct are handled by oversight agencies. Later that afternoon, aldermen are scheduled to briefed on the findings from Mayor Emanuel’s Police Accountability Task Force, which will be publicly released on Friday.

And for the most part, despite being critical of the Mayor’s handling of the superintendent search last month, aldermen have accepted that Johnson will be taking the helm of the department, saying the cost and time required to launch a new search would be wasteful.

Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6), Chairman of the Council’s Black Caucus, said that while the Caucus is “not ecstatic about the process,” they are satisfied with the selection of Johnson.

“Our concerns, especially on the South and West Side, is getting a superintendent in there to hit the ground running, start working,” Ald. Sawyer said to reporters Monday. “[The] process, we have some issues with. But the most important thing is getting somebody on the job that can help us, and the situation we are experiencing right now.”

“I wish that the process would have been followed but it’s kind of tough when you as the mayor say what you want to see, and the board gives you something different,” echoed Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36), who noted that about “90 percent” of the rank and file officers he spoke to say Johnson is a “good guy.”

“But in this case, I think it’s too late where we’re at right now, and the mayor said he wants Johnson, so why would we spend money doing another search just to get the result of Johnson?” Villegas added. Last week, the Sun-Times reported the city spent $500,000 to conduct a nationwide search and pick three finalists for former Supt. Garry McCarthy’s replacement.

Ald. Emma Mitts (37) expressed a similar desire to move forward, rather than spend taxpayer money on another search.

Under city code, when there is a vacancy in the superintendent of police position, the Police Board is required to nominate three candidates to fill the position and to submit those nominations to the mayor.

“In designating the nominees for the position of superintendent of police, the board shall be governed solely by the professional and executive qualifications required for the position which shall be without reference to the residence of the nominees,” according to the section of the Municipal Code related to the board’s powers and duties. “If none of the nominees accept appointment, the board shall submit new lists of three nominees until the position is filled.”

Today, aldermen will vote on a one-time exemption. The amendment to the municipal code “lifts the requirement that the Police Board go through its process and then it reinstates it after a short period of time,” Ald. John Arena (45) said, explaining that he was told by representatives from the Mayor’s office. “So it really is just isolated to this one appointment. But that begs the question: if we do that, then why do we do the process in the first place?”

The Police Board was put in place in 1960 by then-Mayor Richard J. Daley, following the infamous Summerdale Scandal. Mayor Daley appointed criminologistOrlando W. Wilson as superintendent of police. Wilson would go on to move the superintendent’s office from City Hall to Police Headquarters, de-politicize promotions with the department, and usher in the creation of the Police Board.

Fifty-six years later, and the council’s longest serving alderman, Ed Burke (14), said that he didn’t think aldermen should be concerned that the Mayor wants to forego the entire process. “What the citizens need, and what the men and women of the police department need, is certainty about who is going to lead the police department during these critical times,” Burke said, adding that Johnson fits that bill.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be the Mayor’s choice,” Ald. Sawyer said, adding that the Police Board could conduct multiple searches, but at the end of the day, it’s the mayor who gets to decide who should get the job. “Any mayor who does not have the authority to pick their superintendent has the risk of having that office failing, because he’s not controlling that portion of it. Not to say that person shouldn’t have autonomy...but it’s going to be the Mayor’s pick.”

Late Monday night, Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced plans to appoint non-profit leader Sophia King to replace Will Burns for an interim term as 4th Ward Alderman. Aldertrack had previously reported King as one of the potential candidates for the vacancy, but when Aldertrack called early yesterday evening to confirm with King, the chairman of her political campaign fund for 4th Ward Alderman, Evonne Taylor, said, “I didn’t hear that” King was a finalist and that her appointment was news to her, though the Mayor’s office said he interviewed finalists last week.

The term will only extend to Spring 2017, when the city will conduct a special election for the seat. King will appear in front of the Rules Committee today and will face a confirmation vote by the City Council on Wednesday, and then, once approved, will be sworn in as part of the full meeting of the Council, the Mayor’s Office says.

The appointment had been closely held secret for weeks. During City Council committee meetings yesterday, some aldermen present told Aldertrack they hadn’t heard any updates, other than receiving notice that a name would be released today, which was included on the Rules agenda released last week. Others had heard three finalists had been picked, but could not name any of them. Eighteen people applied for the position, according to the Mayor’s Office. The Mayor’s Office has refused to release a list of candidate names or finalists.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced late last night that Ald. Howard Brookins (21) will become Chair of the Council Education Committee, Ald. Joe Moreno (1) will become Chair of the Council’s Committee on Economic, Capital, and Technology Development, and Ald. Pat Dowell (3) will be appointed Chair of the Council’s Human Relations Committee.

Contacted last night, Ald. Howard Brookins (21) said he accepted the position reluctantly, asking for condolences rather than congratulations.

“Reluctant because it just looked like it was a lose-lose situation on all fronts. The city doesn’t have the money, CPS doesn’t have the money, CPS and the City of Chicago are being downgraded with respect to bonds, everybody is being taxed to the limits. The teacher’s union is threatening to strike and we have a governor who is trying to push his own agenda. It is truly not a situation that you go in saying, ‘Hey this is a cushy job,’” Brookins told Aldertrack yesterday, while acknowledging that the committee doesn’t have much leverage outside of the power to pass mostly symbolic resolutions and hold hearings.

Brookins said he already has plans to work with state legislators on comprehensive education funding reform to change the current system that “leaves kids in poor districts underserved.”

“We’re up for the challenge. I understand there’s going to be a challenge,” Brookins said, possibly referring to Ald. Burns sometimes being the target of protests by education groups calling to a moratorium on charter school expansion. “I’ve been a target before. We’ll do the best we can.”

Asked about charter school expansion or new CPS builds, Brookins said he’s waiting for an assessment. “Right now I am looking for [CPS CEO] Forrest Claypool and people at CPS to come up with a comprehensive strategy as to how and where they should open more schools, albeit charter or public,” Brookins said. “I’m not shutting the door on anything, but I would like to see the why and the how: Why do we need more schools and how do we pay for them?”

Brookins met with Mayor Emanuel Sunday, he says, and the two discussed a top priority: leveraging City Colleges’ jobs-based curriculum to meet manufacturing demand, possibly the next phase in the Colleges to Careers (C2C) program.

Brookins says he and Cook County Commissioner Stanley Moore have met with Greg Baise, President of the Illinois Manufacturing Association, who told them the skilled workforce is aging out and near retirement. Baise said nearly all workers (95 to 98%) who pass a training program could be guaranteed a job, and “within five years they would be making $95,000 a year,” Brookins said. “We can fulfill a need for people who need jobs, well-paid jobs. The mayor sees the same opportunity and has the same ideas. That is going to be huge out of this committee within probably the next 12 months.”

9th Ward Ald. Anthony Beale called for the repeal of new lease agreements with Cook County unless he saw results from new behavioral health initiatives from police within one year.

“I have a very strong feeling on mental health when it comes to my community because we do have huge problems,” Beale said. “I really want to see some heavy results after one year… I no longer want to give these leases out and have organizations get these resources and we don’t see the results in the community.”

There were two leases on the agenda, both with County entities. One is a $1 lease for a 10,000 sq ft space at the City’s Roseland Clinic. The Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) intends to convert that space into a community triage center “to provide early intervention services for individuals who are at risk of detention or hospitalization due to behavioral health conditions,” according to a release.

Instead of booking the mentally ill in jail or dropping them off in emergency rooms, police could take people to the triage center. The new center would open later this year with the hopes of diverting hundreds of people from local ERs and the Cook County Jail in the first year, ultimately saving money. If the pilot at the Roseland clinic is successful, CCHHS plans to expand the triage model to five other sites. The Cook County Board has already approved the lease.

The other lease agreement, with the Cook County Department of Corrections would allow use of the West Town Neighborhood Health Center “for the provision of mental health services to ex-offenders.” The 10-year, $1 lease is for about 750 square feet of clinical office space for outpatient treatment, including counseling services, and links to psychiatric and medical care. The goal, a county official told aldermen, is to minimize ex-offenders’ chances of coming back into the Cook County Jail because of their mental illness.

Both of those leases and 25 other items passed the committee unanimously.

Committee Chairman Joe Moore and Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36) also told Aldertrack that a previously-held $29 million land sale to the Chicago Blackhawks and Rush University Medical Center will also proceed to the full City Council Wednesday. The land sale didn’t make it to the floor after committee last month, because two freshman aldermen–Villegas and Ald. Raymond Lopez (15)–threatened to use parliamentary procedure to block the item from a vote. The two wanted answers about City Colleges’ minority staffing and procurement.

Ald. Villegas, Lopez, and Ald. George Cardenas (12) met with representatives from the Mayor’s office and City Colleges Chancellor Cheryl Hyman to discuss breaking out minority hiring statistics by ethnicity and solving the “mystery how they select architects and engineering firms” to ensure City Colleges are relaying their information “to the M/WBE communities,” Villegas told Aldertrack.

Following three hours of testimony focused heavily on aldermen expressing the need for better excessive force and mental health training for police officers, aldermen reluctantly approved two payouts totaling $6.45 million to families who say their sons died at the hands of police officers.

Attendance: Chairman Ed Burke (14), Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Pat Dowell (3), Leslie Hairston (5), Rod Sawyer (6), Gregory Mitchell (7), Michelle Harris (8), Anthony Beale (9), Sue Garza (10), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), Marty Quinn (13), Raymond Lopez (15), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Howard Brookins (21), Mike Zalewski (23), Michael Scott, Jr. (24), Roberto Maldonado (26), Walter Burnett (27) Jason Ervin (28), Ariel Reboyras (30), Scott Waguespack (32), Carrie Austin (34), Emma Mitts (37), Gilbert Villegas (36),  Nick Sposato (38), Marge Laurino (39), Brendan Reilly (42), Tom Tunney (44), John Arena (45), Ameya Pawar (47),  Harry Osterman (48), Deb Silverstein (50).

The larger of the two settlements, a $4.95 million payout, would go to the family of Philip Coleman. The suit names 13 police officers and one detention aide, and alleges their use of excessive force, which included tasing Coleman more than a dozen times, and refusal to take Coleman, who was experiencing a psychotic episode, to a hospital, as the cause of Coleman’s death. Harrison Coleman, Philip’s father, was a retired CHA police officer, and has told reporters, “I helped put my son in the paddy wagon. That was the last time I saw my son alive."

According to Steve Patton, Corporation Counsel with the city’s Law Department, the Medical Examiner ruled that Coleman died from a “rare allergic reaction” to an antipsychotic drug provided to him when he was brought to the hospital.

Patton said if the case had gone to trial, the plaintiffs would have provided “the foremost expert” in the subject of the drug and its side effects, which they retained for this case. That expert would have argued Coleman’s death was the result of his treatment in lockup: dehydration, stress, and physical encounters with the police; not the drug. Patton also characterized Coleman, a University of Chicago graduate who was on his way to get his Masters in Public Health, as a “sympathetic plaintiff” with a “bright future,” which would have made it a hard case to win by jury.

Police officers were called to Coleman’s home where he suffered an “acute mental breakdown,” Patton explained, as he described the incident that resulted in the lawsuit. It was Coleman’s mother who called the police after her son chased her around the house and physically attacked her. She retreated and climbed out the bathroom window to “escape this mad rage,” Patton continued, describing Coleman as “acting like an airplane” and rolling around the ground when police arrived at the scene.

Data retrieved from the officers show that Coleman was tased 13 times, but according to Patton, that doesn’t mean the charges hit Coleman, but rather that the trigger was pulled that many times.

Coleman was a constituent of Ald. Carrie Austin (34), who did not take kindly to Patton’s characterization that Coleman was “acting crazy.”

“In your next deliberation, please don’t use that kind of language of this young man ‘being acting crazy’, because he is absolutely not. Anybody can have a breakdown. I’m sure that you’ve had one, and some of your children, as well,” Ald. Austin scolded Patton. She said she knew Coleman’s parents because they went to her for help following their son’s death. ”So don’t use that language on him, ‘cause this was a young man that you didn’t know personally.”

The conversation focused heavily on the need for better police training, especially as it relates to mental health issues, during this and the subsequent settlement the council approved–a $1.5 million payout to the family of Justin Cook, who died from suffocation after officers allegedly failed to administer his inhaler to him during an asthma attack.

“We are constantly paying out large settlements because of lack of training and lack of resources,” said Ald. Anthony Beale (9), who also knew the Coleman family. He pushed for Patton and Bureau of Internal Affairs Deputy Chief Eddie Welch, who was on hand to testify on proper police protocol, to do better.

“We don’t choose to defend these cases,” Patton later told reporters when asked to respond to public claims that the city’s process of settling cases enables police misconduct. “I think that’s absolutely false.”

“We’ve been a voice for trying to manage risk, is a polite way of saying it,” Patton continued, “trying to see what problems have led to lawsuits and try to prevent them from recurring, but there is a lot more work to be done. And as soon as we get that wood chopped and that work done, the better off we’ll be.”  

The Cook settlement stemmed from an incident on Sept. 20, 2014, when two officers who had recently finished probation were on duty when they saw Cook drive through a stop sign, said Patton.

The officers followed Cook to an alley, where he and a fellow passenger pulled over and proceeded to run from the officers, said Patton. According to the officer’s account, as relayed by Patton, Cook dropped a gun that he had on him. The plaintiffs refute that claim. Both sides agree that Cook was an asthmatic, although how the officers handled that is a point of contention, said Patton.

The two officers said they retrieved Cook’s inhaler and sprayed it into his mouth when they approached him in the alley, then again when he was handcuffed in the squad car. But four eye witnesses, one of whom made a 911 call at the scene, said the officers deliberately withheld his inhaler, some claimed one of the officers threw the inhaler at Cook. Patton said one witness reported hearing the officer say to Cook, “Is this what you want? Well you are not going to get it.”

Patton said it was because of these witnesses that the city chose to settle out of court. The $1.5 million payout would be a structured settlement with payments over time to Cook’s three children. Both cases are currently being investigated by IPRA. None of the officers mentioned have been relieved of their police duties.

Other Items Approved by Finance Committee

• Financial Transparency Resolution. The resolution from Ald. John Arena(45) that the committee approved requests that the council draft an ordinance that would require more transparency and oversight for the city when it tries to enter into risky financial agreements with banks. According to Ald. Arena, that official ordinance is set to be introduced Wednesday. The resolution called for a hearing, but after three hours of testimony on the settlements, hardly anyone was in the chambers by the time it was called up. Ald. Arena and the rest of the Progressive Caucus has been meeting with the administration for “several weeks” to draft the language, beginning when the caucus objected to a $200 water revenue bond deal that included so-called toxic swaps.

• A Loan Modification agreement for LMR United Inc. This project is in the 24th Ward and Ald. Michael Scott, Jr. (24) testified in favor. When it was voted on and approved, Burke abstained.

• Amendment to a redevelopment agreement with Devon, NJ. This item passed in committee, but Chairman Burke said he would hold it, pending the resolution of an issue involving unpaid taxes that the Department of Planning Development is scheduled to settle this week. This amendment transfers ownership of a city-supported mixed-use housing development at 6401-6415 N Rockwell Ave. in the city’s 50th Ward. It’s a 30-unit, approximately 24,800-square-foot building with 232 parking stalls. According to Mary Bonome, a deputy commissioner with DPD, the development company that previously bought the land from the city, ASAT, Inc., went bankrupt and illegally sold the land in a short sale before the project was complete. ASAT, Inc. had bought the land worth $915k from the city for $1 in 2011 and got TIF funds to support construction. This ordinance transfers the project over to Devon, NJ LLC, a developer who completed the project, eliminates the TIF assistance, and designated 195 parking spaces for public use. But there is an issue over taxes on the project due to the city, which Bonome said DPD is in the process of recouping through legal channels.

The Council’s License Committee today will consider an ordinance from Ald. Ed Burke (14) that would make legalize the ability to sell flowers on city streets. Burke’s ordinance would strike from the municipal code the section barring peddlers from selling flowers. According to Donal Quinlan, a spokesperson for Ald. Burke, no one knows why the ban was instituted in the first place, but removing it from the code would let anyone with a peddler’s license sell flowers.

Aldermen heaped praise on Eli’s Cheesecake Company at a swift Economic, Capital, and Technology Development Committee meeting Monday afternoon, awarding the company with a Class 6(b) tax break for a roughly 38,000 sq ft addition to an existing 62,000 sq ft manufacturing and distribution facility in Ald. Nick Sposato’s 38th ward in the Read/Dunning TIF.

Attendance: Chairman Howard Brookins (21), Leslie Hairston (5), Gregory Mitchell (7), Patrick Daley Thompson (11), George Cardenas (12), Toni Foulkes (16), David Moore (17), Willie Cochran (20), Michael Scott Jr. (24), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Jason Ervin (28), Milly Santiago (31), Gilbert Villegas (36), Emma Mitts (37), Nicholas Sposato (38), Michele Smith (43), Tom Tunney (44)

The 6(b) break offers a 12-year reduction in real estate assessments from 25 percent to 10 percent for the first 10 years, 15 percent for the 11th year and 20 percent for the 12th year. Eli’s received $1.3M in TIF dollars for acquisition costs in 1996, and currently provides 249 jobs. 75% of Eli's employees are city residents. The addition will create an extra 75 new jobs over the lifetime of the break. The expansion will add $37,000 to Eli’s current property tax contribution of $149,000, according to Denise Roman with the Department of Planning and Development.

The $11 million proposed expansion will double the company’s baking and production capacity, and Eli’s will save about $600,000 over the break's lifetime.

Marc Schulman, Eli’s CEO, said the expansion is “part of a long-term planning process to keep our production in Chicago, to create more jobs for our people. We love the Northwest side,” he told aldermen, detailing charitable work the company does. “We believe Chicago is a great place to do business.”

“This is the model for economic development. The amount of financing that’s involved with this pales to the fact of keeping 300 jobs in the city. We’ve looked at a number of different incentives per employee. Not only is he a good corporate citizen, but your work hiring from the neighborhood and hiring people with disabilities, challenges, is remarkable,” Ald. Tom Tunney (44) said.  

The committee also approved several new appointments and reappointments to the to the the Community Development Commission, an 11-member, mayor-appointed board that meets once a month in the City Council Chambers to recommend the creation of TIF districts or use of TIF funds for development plans:

• Nicholas J. Delgado to replace Omar Duque. Duque resigned from the board before his term expired. Delgado is founder of Digitas, an investment bank and family office for “founder and family run enterprises,” according to its website. According to the Chicago Reader, Delgado was instrumental in getting a reluctant City Council to approve Wal-Mart’s move to Chicago.

• Dwight Curtis to replace Board Chair Marina Carrot, who is leaving her post this summer. Curtis, the Vice Chairman of label-making company Labelmaster, will finish out Carrot’s term.

• Mae C. Whiteside to succeed Lynda A. Olander, an executive with Precision Plating Company.

• Jorge Perez, the Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association and the board’s current Vice Chair, will be re-appointed alongside Roxanne Ward, Chief of Staff for the Women's Business Development Center. Perez will take over Carrot’s position as Chair.

On Wednesday, when the appointment of Interim Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson to a permanent position is expected to advance to the full Council, Ald. Leslie Hairston (5) is expected to introduce an ordinance calling for the abolition of the Independent Police Review Authority, the city agency in charge of investigating cases of police misconduct, and Ald. Jason Ervin (28) is slated to introduce an ordinance calling for a new police oversight office within the Chicago Office of the Inspector General.

IPRA would be replaced with a new agency and staff, the Independent Citizen Police Monitor. That new organization would have have a significant amount of power compared to IPRA. Specifically, it would amend how IPRA conducts its investigations by opening up police and misconduct data to the public, widening the scope of the Chief Administrator’s powers, and speeding up the release of information and the conclusion of investigations.

The proposed ordinance borrows from cities that have undergone recent police reforms, such as New Orleans, Newark, Seattle, Cleveland, and Albuquerque. The Monitor’s office would maintain at least one full-time investigator for every 100 sworn officers in the department. CPD has more than 12,000 sworn members, as of its 2010 annual report, but allocated for about 13,800 full time employees in its 2016 budget proposal.

Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28) ordinance was informed, in large part, by a draft ordinancefrom the Community Renewal Society (CRS) first touted in December 2015, shortly after the video of Laquan McDonald’s shooting was released. The ordinance creates a “Police Functions Office” within the Inspector General’s office, currently headed by Joe Ferguson.

The Deputy Inspector General for Police Functions would be appointed by a five-member selection committee chosen by the IG. The Deputy IG has 20 listed powers to review, audit, collect, analyze, propose recommendations, and investigate any police-related matters under IPRA, Police Board, or CPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau. Several off-limits areas would also be open to public inspection, including reports on use of body cameras, contact cards, citizen complaints, and misconduct investigations, which would all be published on the OIG’s website.

Similar to Hairston’s ordinance, the office would be funded by a portion of the Police Department’s $1.45 billion appropriation - no less than one percent, or approximately $14.6 million. There would be one full-time employee for every 250 sworn officers in the department. Ervin plans to hold a press conference on the ordinance tomorrow morning before the full City Council meets.

The mayor’s Police Accountability Task Force (PATF) is also expected to release its recommendations on April 15, including on de-escalation, community and police relations, early intervention and personnel, and legal oversight and accountability. Aldermen will be briefed on those findings Wednesday afternoon.

The Committee on Health and Environmental Protection was called to order 20 minutes late, only to be recessed roughly six minutes later, after no one was on hand to answer questions about the only agenda item: changes to the city’s Commission Animal Care and Control. Only Chris Norberg from the city’s Law Department came to testify, but couldn’t “speak to what the substance” of the ordinance was, or why increasing the membership of the committee from nine to eleven, requiring city residency for appointees, and a mandating member of the business community serve on the commission were necessary.

Attendance: Chairman George Cardenas (12), Proco Joe Moreno (1), Brian Hopkins (2), Toni Foulkes (16), Michael Zalewski (23), Walter Burnett Jr. (27), Ariel Reboyras (30), Deb Mell (33), Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35), Gilbert Villegas (36), Harry Osterman (48)

“We’re increasing the membership but we don’t know who that is, we don’t know what that will mean, or what that will do, but let’s vote on it. That’s a hell of a committee meeting,” Chairman George Cardenas (12) said sarcastically, calling for a recess until the Department of Public Health could elaborate.

More than a dozen other items have been introduced, but not heard by the Health committee, including Ald. Jason Ervin’s (28) mental health clinics ordinance, hearings on “state-sponsored euthanasia” at Animal Care and Control from Ald. Raymond Lopez (15), and a pet waste removal ordinance from Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35).

The Council’s Finance Committee will consider paying out $6.45 million to two families of men who allegedly died at the hands of Chicago Police.

This morning, the Law Department will ask aldermen to approve settling two police misconduct cases. One of those lawsuits, filed by the family of Philip Coleman, will cost the city $4.9 million. The lawsuit stems from a 2012 incident when six Chicago police officers were caught on video using a Taser on, and dragging Coleman out of his cell. Coleman suffered severe trauma and was admitted to Roseland Community Hospital where he was later pronounced dead after a bad reaction to an antipsychotic drug.

The City released the video in December of 2015, around the time protesters took over city streets to voice their outrage of the mishandling of the the Laquan McDonald shooting. IPRA Chief Administrator Sharon Fairley re-opened the agency’s investigation into Coleman’s death, “to determine if the officers' actions are within department guidelines and, if so, whether policy changes are needed to avoid another incident like this in the future."

Aldermen will be asked to settle another police-related case, this one involving Justin Cook, who also died in police custody after an asthma attack. The city plans to pay the Cook family $1.5 million to keep the case out of court.

Other Items on the Finance Agenda

Financial Oversight - Ald. John Arena (45), a member of the council’s Progressive Caucus, wants the City Council to devise an ordinance that would create new review standards for the city’s major financial transactions. Ald. Arena, on behalf of the Caucus, introduced a resolution calling on his colleagues to do just that: “undertake to collaborate on creating a Financial Transparency and Accountability Ordinance that imposes rigorous review standards for extraordinary financial transactions.” It’s unclear if those details will be discussed in committee.

TIF $ For Schools - Two public elementary schools will receive a total of $1.04 million in tax increment financing dollars under an ordinance from the Department of Planning and Development. Hope College Preparatory in the city’s Englewood neighborhood (5515 S. Lowe St.) would receive $287,000 in TIF funds for the planning, design and construction of a new playground. And Roald Amundsen High School in the city’s Lincoln Square neighborhood would receive $760,000 in TIF funds for the construction of new game programing and web design labs. That will pay for only part of the project, the Board of Education will pick up the rest of the tab, paying $796,000.  According to a press release from the mayor’s office, this is the latest of several TIF investments that have been made at the Lincoln Square high school. The school previously received a total of $3.1 million in TIF funding, including $2.6 million for a new gym.

Today’s 27-item-long Housing Committee agenda includes about $75,000 in city-owned land sales, seven Board of Education property acceptances, and a $1 lease to Cook County Health and Hospitals System (CCHHS) for a community triage center in the city’s Roseland community.

The Cook County Board approved the $1 lease agreement with CCHHS at the end of last month. CCHHS would use a roughly 10,000 square foot space at the Chicago Department of Public Health’s Roseland Clinic (200 E. 115th Street) for a community triage center, where police can drop off arrestees they believe are suffering from mental health issues for treatment rather than taking them to jail.

Dr. Jay Shannon, CEO of CCHHS, testified the triage centers are intended to “reduce costs in correctional health and reduce the human misery index,” for arrestees who might otherwise be sent to emergency rooms or the Cook County Jail. If this pilot program is successful, CCHHS plans to open as many as five additional centers. Another lease agreement allowing the Cook County Department of Corrections  use of the West Town Neighborhood Health Center “for the provision of mental health services to ex-offenders” is also up for committee consideration. The 10-year, $1 lease is for about 750 square feet of clinical office space.

The committee will also vote on a handful of property moves from the Board of Education:

• O2016-2526 - the conveyance of 7.34 acres of green open space to the Chicago Park District.
• O2016-2507 - the site of Crispus Attucks Elementary School in Bronzeville, which closed in 2008. 
• O2016-2505 -  used in connection with the Yale School Elementary, which closed in 2013.
• O2016-2504 - a bundling of sites once utilized by Metcalfe and McCosh schools that the Board of Ed no longer needs.
• O2016-2483 - the site of Von Humboldt Elementary, which closed in 2013. It was one of four shuttered Humboldt Park Chicago Public Schools.
• O2016-2472 - the former site of Powell School, which relocated to a new school building nearby. The site is currently occupied by Excel Academy of South Shore.
• O2016-2461 - the former site of Davis Developmental School, which relocated to a new building.

The city commission in charge of animal control would be expanded to 11 seats under an ordinance before the Council’s Health and Environmental Protection Committee today.

The ordinance, sponsored by Mayor Emanuel on behalf of the Executive Director of Animal Care and Control, would increase membership on the mayor-appointed commission from nine to eleven members–although three of those seats are set aside for representatives of the Police, Health, and Sanitation Departments–in addition to requiring that all members be Chicago residents.

While the City Council must approve the expansion of the board, their approval is not required for appointments to the board made by the mayor.

Tomorrow, aldermen on the Council’s Public Safety Committee will be asked to change a city law mandating how the city picks its police superintendents and appoint interim Supt. Eddie Johnson as the next permanent top cop.

According to Stephen Spector, a spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the measure before the Council would be a one-time fix. “This measure, which would create a one-time exemption to allow City Council to confirm Eddie Johnson as superintendent, will bring much-needed resolution and allow the Chicago Police Department to focus on the significant challenges and reforms that lie ahead,” Spector said in an emailed statement Friday.

When asked for a copy of resolution on Friday, Spector said it was still being drafted in consultation with aldermen.

The Public Safety agenda, published last Friday morning, lists two items: an ordinance that would amend the chapter of the municipal code regarding the appointment of the city’s top cop, and a communication appointing Eddie T. Johnson as Superintendent of Police. As the code is currently written (2-84-030), that job is left to the Police Board: “When a vacancy occurs in the position of superintendent of police, to nominate three candidates to fill the position and to submit those nominations to the mayor.” The Superintendent “shall be appointed by the mayor upon recommendation of the police board and with the advice and consent of the city council and shall serve at the pleasure of the mayor.”

The Police Board did just that already, spending about $500,000 on the search, according to the Chicago Sun Times. But the mayor threw out those recommendations, which he’s reminded reporters has been done before. In 2007, Mayor Richard M. Daley threw out the Police Board’s recommendations, but he didn’t change the law – the board conducted another search and submitted three new names. Eight months later, Daley appointed Jody Weis to take over. The Police Board issued a release April 1 saying it would "see how these developments play out before taking any formal action," to start a new search.

Mayor Emanuel is shaking up the city-run board in charge of approving tax increment financing (TIF) for development projects and Redevelopment Area designations, appointing three new members, all of whom come from private industry.

The Council’s Committee on Economic and Capital Development is scheduled to consider three appointments and reappointments to the the Community Development Commission, an 11-member, mayor-appointed board that meets once a month in the City Council Chambers to recommend the creation of TIF districts or use of TIF funds for development plans.

The board is also in charge of approving the sale of surplus, city-owned land for neighborhood redevelopment activities or use eminent domain for land acquisition, as was the case of the Old Chicago Main Post Office seizure the board approved earlier this year.

The new appointments include:

• Nicholas J. Delgado to replace Omar Duque. Duque resigned from the board before his term expired. A former employee of Merrill Lynch, Delgado left the investment firm in 2009, shortly after the financial crisis, and founded Digitas, an investment bank and family office for “founder and family run enterprises,” according to its website. Investment News named Delgado in its list of 40 under 40, and according to the Chicago Reader, Delgado was instrumental in getting a reluctant City Council to approve WalMart’s move to Chicago. The board member who Delgado will replace, Duque, is the President and CEO of the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

• Dwight Curtis to replace Board Chair Marina Carrot, who is leaving her post this summer. Curtis, the Vice Chairman of label-making company Labelmaster, will finish out Carrot’s term. Carrot is an independent consultant, a member of the city’s Library Board, and was a one-time Commissioner of the city’s Department of Housing.

• Mae C. Whiteside to succeed Lynda A. Olander, an executive with Precision Plating Company. The resolution appointing Whiteside gives no mention to the reason why Olander is stepping down from her post. Whiteside is a principal at CKL Engineers.

Jorge Perez, the Executive Director of the Hispanic American Construction Industry Association and the board’s current Vice Chair, will be re-appointed alongside Roxanne Ward, Chief of Staff for the Women's Business Development Center. Perez will take over Carrot’s position as Chair.

A South Side alderman announces a plan to to abolish the Independent Police Review Authority (IPRA). Aldermen relax a parking ban on pickup trucks, while loosening liquor regulations at nude strip clubs. And we detail paid sick leave recommendations from a mayoral task force, an industrial zoning plan, and some big items slated for next week: millions is police settlements, a new 4th Ward alderman, and a plan to amend city law and appoint Eddie Johnson as the next Police Superintendent.